Though I’d be hard-pressed to figure out what “good” would be in this case.

I seem to have a strange power: killing off decent Mexican/Spanish restaurants. All I have to do is show up and like the food. That’s all it takes. Within a couple of months, the menu has gone bland to cater to the blander tastes of my neighbors, or they decide changing the grease in the kitchen is a very bad idea and vow to never change it again.

Or worse, they shut down completely. One was a short drive from the house, closer towards our downtown area. A decent variety on the menu, salsa that had more than bell peppers and vinegar, and live music some nights.

Another was an even shorter drive; tucked in the back corner of a strip mall down the street, it was flanked by a couple of diners that specialized in such varied tastes as wiener schnitzel and Thai cuisine. We’d ducked in there one day that we had off (the kids didn’t) and found the food filling and fresh, reminiscent of our “southwest” trip a few years back. I decided it was worth telling friends and family about, but on our next excursion there was a small sign on the door indicating the restaurant had closed. A month later, the sign is a bit weather-worn, but shows no sign of coming down to open again anytime soon.

So tonight I’m making it myself. Using my favorite quick way of cooking up the corn tortillas (6 to a cookie sheet, spritzed with cooking oil, and baked in the oven 5 min @350), we’re having plain tacos tonight. But with the dearth of authentic restaurants in a 15 mile radius, I’m going to have to crack the lid on the grill and roast my own chiles for a batch of salsa. There’s the buzzer. Time to pull the tortillas and toss the spanish rice I crocked up yesterday in to warm up as the oven cools.

Anyone else with this strange power? Are you a killer of healthy plants? Buyer of doomed product lines (I so miss Dulce M & Ms)?

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